Sump Plug Repair – How I did it…
Safety:
Jack up the front of the vehicle and use wheel chocks
PPE
Safety is your call.
Tooling:
Basic ¼” Dr socket set w/extension
Allen key
Ring spanner
Pry bar or large flat screwdriver
I use packing boxes to lay on and stop oil dripping onto the floor. (it’s comfy too)
Scraper or stanly knife blade
Consumables:
Rags
Brakeklren or Contact Cleaner
Brush
Degreaser
1. Drain the sump.
2. Remove the turbo charge pipe to the intercooler. One hose clamp one mount bolt as seen in the Pic marked with a yellow dot.
Mid way there is another mount bolt but this only needs to be loosened, the charge pipe is slotted so you can pull it down to remove.
Next is the hose clamp from the turbo charger. I couldn’t access the clamp marked in yellow because of it’s position but I did remove the other on the turbo end and removed the charge pipe with the hose on it. The pic shows where I positioned it when fitting it back. That clamp also clamps the hose so you can’t move the clamp around. You’ll see what I mean if you ever do this job. Now remove the Charge Pipe and push any hose end out of the way to clear the area.
3. Remove the AC Compressor lower mount bolt. Marked in Yellow remove this bolt, The spacer marked in Red leave it there, that comes out with the sump because there’s no room to remove it with the AC still firmly mounted above. I did remove it from the sump before taking it to the Engineering place. Less risk to break off or lose. Just remember to put it back on before fitting the sump.
4. Now you can freely access the allen bolts to remove the sump. Remove two standard bolts (marked in orange) that bolt to the sump to the transmission. There are four rubber plugs as marked in yellow remove those (pretend the charge pipe is removed). Deep inside there are 4 sump bolts.
5. Now it’s time to remove all the sump bolts. I simply used an allen key, and with my ring spanner from the two standard bolts from the last step I put it over the ‘Ll end of the allen key to gain leverage and cracked the bolt free. I continued on to loosen all the bolts before removing all but two to hold the sump in place. I used a pry bar to lightly separate the sump from the block (look for the provisions on the block and sump to separate the two) it doesn't need much force at all it separates easily and smoothly. Hold the sump and undo the two remaining bolts and manoeuvre the sump out and it’s off…
Note: There are only two bolts that are longer, all the others are the same size so it is easy when it comes time to refit the sump just remember their locations I’ve got a pic showing it later on.
I use a blade to scrape off the remaining old sealant and clean up the surface spaying Contact Cleaner and wiping it down with a rag. It dries instantly and cleans up well. I used a rag to blot the engine internals to stop oil dripping on me and the floor/cardboard. The oil pump cleaned up well with just a spray and a rag.
6. Here’s the sump, the face marked in Yellow (bolts to the trans. housing) doesn’t use sealant because of the bolts further up. Interestingly that’s the area where I get my oil stain at the rear of the engine that I keep cleaning every service interval. I reckon I’ll remove those plugs when cleaning that in the future.
Here’s the other side, the two yellow marks are where the two longest sump bolts go. Pretty easy to remember. You’ll see below that on the corner I’ve removed that AC spacer before it’s gone to the Engineers.
Okay and here’s the Finished repair, welded drilled and retapped M14x1.5. Looking good and a pic from the inside and new sump plug to complete the repair.
Whilst I’m in there I’m happy to check on the internals and I’ve seen plenty of CAT Komatsu Cummins Detroit engines and this one looks pretty good. I really do like what Nulon is doing over the last 150K kms that we’ve driven and good to see considering it’s at ~260K kms on it.
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